


Cupboards

by WaylonJuliusLecter



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Self-Insert, platonic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-30
Updated: 2017-11-30
Packaged: 2019-02-08 20:35:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12872490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaylonJuliusLecter/pseuds/WaylonJuliusLecter
Summary: A short friendship fluff between Loki and an Original FtM Character, Vladimir.Vlad and Loki are on good terms - and with Loki that usually simply means he has no desire to kill you. They don't talk often or for long. But Loki is struck by an unexpected feeling of empathy when he realizes that he and the mortal are more alike then he thought.





	Cupboards

**Author's Note:**

> Vlad is an original transgender superhuman character (a feline-type shapeshifter, a bit of a self-insert, too).

It was expected for Loki Laufeyson to wander the halls alone at some hour of the day or another of the night. He enjoyed the silence and stillness that came when others were in their own apartments or elsewhere off tower. He would amuse himself with small uses of magic as he walked, shifting objects or making small miniature displays of fireworks in front of him.

It was unexpected, however, for him to hear the deep breathing that came to his right, an office room completely in shadow (technically, the office belonged to Banner, but he rarely used it). Loki was wary at first, hoping the man wasn't inside, and he wandered in a bit cautiously. The room was dark and nobody seemed to be inside, but he still heard the breathing coming from somewhere. He looked to the side of the room, where storage cabinets lined the floor.

One of the cupboard doors was hanging open, and inside it he caught the glimpse of a pink shoe.

He thought he knew who it might be.

The warlock leaned down to creak it open, seeing a sleeping Vlad curled up in the small storage space, tear stains on his cheeks and a few on his purple sweater.

He froze in thought, struggling to process the sight. He did not dislike the boy, which was more than he could say for many people. Vlad had always been friendly and open-minded to him, and for that he afforded the boy a level of politeness. 

What shocked him though, wasn't the boy himself, it was the image. For a moment there, he saw his own younger form curled up in the cabinet, suffering from some indistinct panic, and staying there until he slept, too scared of the outside world to leave. A scenario of hurt that might only ever be aided by his mother coming to the rescue, and on rarer occasions his brother.

But he felt a familiar tug inside of himself when he studied the scene. Somehow he knew why Vlad had fallen asleep without company. He understood it almost too well.

Like Loki, he had no family. Not anymore. 

If you were to ask Loki someday later, he wouldn't say that it was compassion. He wouldn't say that it was empathy. In fact, he wouldn't say anything on the subject at all. 

But in his mind he would recall that at that moment, he remembered what his mother would do for him on nights when he stayed in the cabinet.

When Vlad woke up, he found a glass of cool milk and a plate of warm cookies sitting outside the cabinet door.

He never could figure out who left them.


End file.
